Fool's Gold: Fox Pushes Shady Stat On Olympic Medal Taxes

Fox News is bolstering its anti-tax crusade with bogus numbers about the taxes that American Olympic medalists will have to pay on their prizes.

The bogus numbers come from Grover Norquist's group, Americans for Tax Reform, which claims that gold medalists will owe up to $9,000 on their medal and the accompanying $25,000 cash prize.

But PolitiFact has rated this claim "mostly false." PolitiFact noted that ATR's calculations assume the prizes will be taxed at the top income tax rate, despite the fact that many Olympic athletes earn far less than that. PolitiFact also noted the calculations assume the medalists will fail to deduct any business expenses on their winnings.

Yet Fox uncritically hyped ATR's claim -- a guest from ATR on Your World with Neil Cavuto even speculated that these taxes could result in American competitors deliberately "throwing races" to get silver medals and lower their tax bills:

Fox also promoted ATR's shady statistic on four other shows on August 1: Studio B, The Five, Special Report, and The Fox Report.

Right-wing media outlets are parroting the attacks of an anti-LGBTQ hate group on Connecticut’s openly gay comptroller, Kevin Lembo. Lembo recently sent the American Family Association (AFA) a letter asking the group to submit written documentation certifying it complies with the nondiscrimination regulations governing the Connecticut State Employee Campaign for Charitable Giving (CSEC), which allows Connecticut State employees to contribute to qualifying non-profit charities through payroll deductions. Lembo’s office has since been “flooded” with emails and phone calls from AFA supporters.